by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON - As President Obama faces increased skepticism from Arab world allies over his administration's talks with Iran, Morocco's King Mohammed VI's White House visit on Friday comes at a particularly opportune time for the longtime, if not particularly powerful, American ally.

Israel and Saudi Arabia - unlikely dance partners who both happen to have good relations with Morocco - have been in near lockstep in their outrage over the prospect of a deal that could curb Tehran's nuclear program but leave critical elements intact, such as uranium enrichment.

The king's sit-down with Obama also happens to coincide with talks between officials of the P5+1 (U.S., Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany) and Iran resuming this week. If significant progress is made, Secretary of State John Kerry stands ready to head to Geneva to try to close an interim deal.

Many Arab nations have expressed suspicions over Tehran's overtures, but Morocco has offered support for Obama's negotiations with Iran and has signaled that it can be a helpful go-between with Gulf Arab states who are wary of the president's willingness to loosen sanctions at all.

"We want to be regional players of clout," Morocco Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar said in a speech in Washington on the eve of King Mohammed's meeting with Obama, the first White House visit for the monarch in more than a decade.

The North African country of 32 million, which emerged from Arab Spring revolutions of 2011 more stable than many of its neighbors, is hardly a political heavyweight in North Africa and the Middle East.

But Morocco, which claims to be the first nation to have recognized the United States in 1777, is making the case that it should play a more essential role in U.S. security strategy, particularly as al-Qaeda has gained ground in North Africa, the Nigerian Islamic militant group Boko Haram has spread through Mali and elsewhere in the Sahel, and Libya and Tunisia have struggled in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions.

King Mohammed comes with a certain amount of influence with Gulf rulers, something Middle East analysts say could be helpful to Obama as he tussles with several front burner issues in the Middle East, including the Iran nuclear talks, the ongoing civil war in Syria and Obama's hopes of forging an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

He has an almost fraternal relationship with the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, and close ties with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait - all nations that have expressed deep apprehension to Obama's willingness to engage Iran in talks.

"For the countries of the Gulf, the American approach should be explicitly laid out," Mezouar told USA TODAY. "They have always been partners of the United States, and when one is a partner, one expects from one's partner to make those commitments (that) naturally come with such relations."

The king also has been a champion of the Palestinians - pouring millions into hospitals and charitable projects in the West Bank. But Morocco has also managed to forge trust with Israel. (The king has spoken out against Holocaust denial prevalent in the Middle East, and his grandfather is credited with protecting thousands of Moroccan Jews from the Nazis during World War II.)

"Morocco is trying to put it out there, we are an asset," said Anouar Boukhars, a Middle East analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "If you want an interlocutor, then the king can be useful."

In an editorial he co-wrote in The Hill newspaper earlier this week, James Jones, who served as Obama's national security adviser during his first term, called on the president to seize the opportunity.

"The king stands out as a trusted friend to each and every one of the Gulf states' leaders, capable of building consensus for a concerted policy in consort with his American friends," they wrote.

For Morocco, there's concern that there has been some slippage in the U.S.-Morocco relationship since the departure of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton - who held up the monarchy's decision to push for democratic reforms in the aftermath of the Arab Spring as a model for the region, Boukhars said.

The monarchy was also shaken this year after the Obama administration backed a proposal for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara to conduct human rights reporting. The Western Sahara is the center of an ongoing territorial dispute with neighboring Algeria. In response to the American backing, Morocco in April canceled a joint military exercise that was to involve 1,400 U.S. troops.

The human rights proposal did not advance in the U.N., but ahead of King Mohammed's arrival in Washington, human rights groups have called for Obama to press Morocco on human rights during Friday's meeting.

The group Human Rights Watch says perhaps hundreds of Islamists, youthful street protesters and Western Sahara activists have been imprisoned after unfair trials and that Moroccan police have used excessive force to disperse demonstrations and violence to extract confessions.

"Morocco's reform process has stalled, even as all the fanfare about reform proceeds," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Mezouar, the Moroccan foreign minister, dismissed the human rights criticism, noting that Morocco held a constitutional referendum in the aftermath of the Arab Spring and has established a human rights council to address the issue.

"Morocco has understood that necessity of increasing the pace in building a modern democratic state," Mezouar said.